Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Fourth Annual Conference
Washington, DC

May 16, 2003

Introduction

In order to achieve democratization, states are expected to accommodate the various cross-section of society in a viable constitutional framework[i]. Each nation inevitably must chart a unique course towards democratization, which must take into account factors such as the state of the national economy, religious and sectarian unrest, ethnocentric ghettoizing of communities, and class-based demarcations existing in each country’s unique circumstances. Most studies focusing on the reasons for weak democratization in the Muslim world privilege, factors such as the lack of economic development, illiteracy, ethnic divisions, feeble civil society, authoritarian culture, even Islam itself. Undoubtedly, there is merit to the findings of such studies that emphasize these and other such sundry factors. However, there is very little research, which takes into consideration the traditional patriarchical culture as an impediment to democratization.[ii]

The purpose of this research paper is to explore the relationship between the dismal social status of women and the weakness of democratic norms, culture, and democratization in Pakistan. Considering that women constitute (49%) almost half of the total population of Pakistan, their disenfranchisement is bound to have negative impact on the overall progress of democratization[iii]. What further exacerbates this situation is the fact that only 29% of women are considered literate in that they can read and write[iv]. I argue that if half the population is marginalized in terms of playing a greater public role, this has a direct negative impact on the process of democratization itself (let alone democratic consolidation). The significance of this paper is that it will address the subordination of women in the Muslim world in accordance with traditional and culturally loaded understandings of Islam, and demonstrate how such notions of Islam have prevented the advancement of women, and hence created obstacles to democratization.

There are numerous studies that address the dismal status of women in the Muslim world. Similarly there many studies that seek to understand the lack of democratization. However, there is a dearth of literature when it comes to tying these two issues together in an effort explain how the former affects the latter. It is this causal link that I seek to establish in this paper, which will rely upon publicly available empirical data as well as my own experiences as a Muslim woman of Pakistani background, and the fieldwork that I have engaged in with non-governmental organizations in Pakistan. While this paper will focus on Pakistan as a case study, however, given the similarities in the arrested development of women in most parts of the Muslim world, I strongly feel that my research will be applicable to the Muslim world in general.

The Causal Link: Marginalization of Women & Weak Democratization

Often lacking within the overall discourse on democratization and democratic consolidation is the discussion of how the patriarchical nature of most Muslim societies, is a structural impediment to democratization. Considering that women constitute a large segment of the total population, it is essential for the goal of democratization that the women-folk play a major role in the public sphere. Particularly in Pakistan, where women constitute half of the population, i.e., 49%, but remain ignored due to the dominance of an elitist patriarchy[v]. One of the foremost problems preventing women from participating in public life is their dismal literacy rate.[vi] Participation in public life necessitates the need for women to be educated, which is instrumental in making them with the cognizant of their rights and duties in a democratic society. One of the basic requirements that informs the functioning of a democratic state is the awareness among the citizenry of its rights and the ability to make use of the prominent roles they should play in society, which is something that Islam provides for them to make use of. 

Moreover, the social roles of women must become dynamic.  There must be a change from the stagnant notion of women solely as part of a chardivari culture in which the home is her zanana.  Women constitute a sizable portion of the population yet remain ignored leaving Pakistan in the hands of an elite patriarchy.  While Islam at a normative level encourages women to be educated and guarantees their rights, the empirical reality is that the overwhelming majority of women in Pakistan have nothing more to look forward to other than the proverbial domesticated housewife. Barring a small elite cross-section in the upper echelons of society, most women do not have the luxury of even realizing that there is an alternative.

People who are voting, participating in political events, getting educated, etc are the elite, upper-class and therefore are choosing a leader that best suits them. The women that are the ones who are working, or playing some sort of role in society besides being a house-wife, are usually the elite upper-class women, which are the overwhelming minority.  The rich are the ones picking the government officials, thus the rich are the ones getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Thus, the poor are too worried about what they are going to eat the next day or if they will have fresh water to drink (since the majority of the population does not have access to potable water[vii]), than to vote.

The status of women throughout Muslim-majority countries remains a most disturbing fact.  Cultural influence masked as religious authority constantly deems women second-class citizens.  Education is requisite in addressing any study pertaining to the role of women and their social status.  It is through the analysis of social dilemmas plaguing Pakistani women, that we find a mechanism in the education of women to further democratize societies within the context of the Muslim world.  Subaltern women assessed through my own field research provide ample data to see the atmosphere of disarray within society as a whole due to the lack of their individual rights or knowledge thereof.  This same phenomenon continues within all levels of society.  The stigmatized class-based society of Pakistan does not offer any escape even to those who are members of the elite.  Female members of all class groups become part of a second-class constituency categorically denied their rights due to the male patriarchy.  From this dilemma, we see that social disruptions within civil society in Pakistan arise out of a need for education, as well as, a need for women to play an active part in society and not be limited to the role of an offspring incubator.

My experiences of working in Pakistan with a Non-governmental organization called All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA) have benefited me in understanding problems with the gender of women in rural and urban areas as I worked for four weeks with women and children in the slums of Karachi, Pakistan.  From my experiences in working with women in Pakistan, I learned that many women in Pakistan are suffering in jail due to a crime that their husbands or “head of household” committed; yet they become punished for such crime due to ludicrous reasons often centered on the lack of due process.  A great majority of the people in jail in Pakistan are women[viii].  Many women are not even aware of their rights and what exactly they have access to such as a lawyer to help in proving themselves innocent.  Lack of awareness of rights leads accused women to not even attempt any kind of legal defense often resulting in unwarranted jail time.

Personal interviews conducted with many women living in Orengi and Korengi (rural areas of Karachi, Pakistan) has shown that they are not allowed to get educated because their parents or their husbands will not let them.[ix] Many of these women have been brainwashed into thinking that if a women is to do anything beyond producing kids and cooking, then she is “westernized” and a product of “westoxication” (Gharbzedgi), a Persian term used in Iran to vilify the west. Many have become the agents of the male patriarchy in the sense that they said that they believe that they should not get educated because of Islamic injunctions against female involvement in the public sphere. They feel that the ones who are educating themselves are “westernized” and have become modern, drifting away from traditional Pakistani cultural ideals.  The prevalence of such ideas in many women breeds no hope for further education. Thus, many simply feel it is not a necessity to become educated. They feel that men are the ones that should be working and that there is not a need for women to receive education, thus not being able to play a prominent role in society. Buying into patriarchal archetype of the ideal man, many women believe that a social role is solely a male domain and female contribution is not necessary[x].  Due to the lack of education thereof, many women in Pakistan are not aware of their rights such as voting, issues concerning marriage and divorce, their right to political involvement, right to attain an education and so on.  These are rights that have been granted to them with the tagline of Islam.  The “Islam” of the subjugators is also the “Islam” of the oppressed.  Perception of authority creates a great amount of confusion in which often the women becomes the proverbial scapegoat.  It is very important to educate and empower women, because then will democracy be achieved, due to the country as a whole contributing to society in one way or another thus, leading the country to democratization.

There is a strong correlation between the subordination of women in the Muslim world and the traditional and cultural understandings of Islam. Moreover, demonstrating how such notions of Islam have prevented the advancement of women hence creates obstructions to democratization.  Due to some Muslim societies in various Islamic states, traditional (cultural law) has been mixed in and convoluted with Islamic Shariah law.  One can easily reject the essentialist arguments that posit Islam as the obstacle to democratization. However, it is the traditional Muslim interpretation of Islam that lies at the heart of the problem, which needs to be recognized as a distinct from Islam itself. There needs to be a strong distinction between religion and culture but unfortunately, many Islamic states have intertwined the two and have tied Islam to the corruption of its culture.  For example the concept of female circumcision is not at all Islamic yet Muslim societies have tied their own cultural practices of it to the religion.  They have taken the religion to their own convenience and integrated their cultural practices with Islam to make it “Islamic.”  For example, the concept of hijab is that which can be taken to be religious to some or cultural to some. There are many different opinions as to whether the hijab is mandatory in Islam or not but many Islamic states such as Iran have made the hijab compulsory for women, thus not giving them a choice on it.  Therefore, religion and culture mix and the hijab is tied to a cultural, political, status-oriented concept as opposed to a religious one. Women should be choosing to wear hijab for religious reasons, not because it’s mandatory in the country or because their family members enforce it upon them.[xi] Many people tend to confuse culture with religion, therefore impacting governmental institutions in many Islamic states to ban women from entering mosques, not giving women rights to obtain divorce, child custody rights, inheritance, education and even their mahr (bridal money) in some states.  Muslim women are denied and have lost their Islamic rights in many Muslim countries due to the culture and the male-dominated patriarchal society, taking place in these countries. Many of the women in these Islamic and/or secular states are not even aware of the rights that they have. In this case study of Pakistan, many women are not even aware that they have voting rights to choose their leader or the right to enter a mosque.  They have become blinded by the culture as their traditional (cultural law) contradicts with Islamic law and therefore either had their rights taken away from them or are just not aware of them.

An attentive citizenry is a basic ingredient that goes into the making of an efficacious democratic political system. Women’s lack of involvement within society is thus bound to have negative impact on the overall progress of democratization.  Women need to be aware of their various rights presented as Islamic by the country of Pakistan as well as the shari’i base upon which they were created.  Women in Pakistan need to become educated as the citizenry within a democracy can rule only through knowledge. 

If an attentive citizenry has been achieved and it is the citizens of a country that are participating; not only by voting, but on a day to day basis by politically getting involved, holding their rulers accountable, being aware of the law and their rights, managing their finances, etc, then will an efficacious political system be attained.  Thus, causing women to play a vibrant role in society.  As a result of this, the causal link between the marginalization of women and weak democratization can be achieved. 

Conclusion

          The fact that women constitute half the population of Pakistan and that they play a very limited role in the public sphere offers itself as a major obstacle to democratization. While this study focuses on the single case of Pakistan, one can extend the argument to the Muslim world in general (with certain few exceptions such as Turkey). Moreover, there is a need to understand that this situation has little to do with Islam if at all. It is the dominance of traditional interpretations of the Qur’an & the Sunnah, which provide the textual legitimization of the limitations imposed upon women vis-à-vis public life. Democracy in Pakistan cannot be realized without the social political and economic advancement of its female population. This task requires that the marginalized half of the country’s population is able to complement the other half by being able to move beyond the traditional roles of a daughter, sister, wife, and mother vital role in governing their own lives. Here one should not mistake such calls as demanding the replacement of these traditional roles with newer ones. Instead what it is important to realize that why are women being limited to these roles when there is nothing in Islam that says women must be confined to these traditional roles.

It is true that the empowerment of women alone, will not lead to democratization, however, disregard for it while at the same time laying greater emphasis on other factors will also not produce the desired results. In other words, the problem is the over emphasis upon macro-level analyses at the expense of micro-level problems. This paper advances a theory that there exists a direct causal link between weak democratization (as the dependent variable) and dismal status of women (as the independent variable). Nevertheless, I will leave it to future studies to empirically test this theory for its validity or the lack there of.

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